2009/3/9 Udhay Shankar N <[email protected]> > Shoba (who lurks on silk) has a point. Exactly what is "Indian culture"? > I am equally puzzled by the subsidiary question of "what is India?" (for > the moment, we will ignore the otherwise equally important issue of > "what is culture?" while we address the above two...) > > Thoughts? >
A conversation with a Sri Ram Sene activist can trigger many strong > emotions - and a question. What really is Indian culture? We can stop > the likes of Pramod Muthalik only when we have one template to agree upon > > Shoba Narayan > The 'culture' argument is a red herring, IMO. We do not need 'one template' to agree that violations of basic human and democratic rights are illegal, unconstitutional and criminal. > 1. Children are not listening to their elders. > 2. Children are not wearing traditional clothes. Everyone is in jeans > and “Muslim dresses” like the salwar-kameez. > 3. Sari is dying. > 4. What is worse, parents are not objecting to their children following > Western culture. Fathers are giving sons drinks. > 5. Wives are not respecting their husbands. > 6. Boys and girls are freely mixing before marriage. > 7. Women are not keeping traditions such as watering the tulsi plant for > the well-being of the family. > 8. Children talk back to adults. > 9. Women in cut-piece clothes have become commercial objects. Even > goddesses like Lakshmi are being used to sell liquor. > 10. Last and the most important: Women are drinking and going to > nightclubs. If one chooses to engage is this ostensible debate on Indian culture at all, one might question why the only aspects this segment opposes are trends that threaten patriarchal values. > I need what Ruth Benedict called “patterns of culture”, a set of > qualities—aesthetics, values and common personality traits—that make up > Indian society’s gestalt. Any list of 'Indian' cultural values that does not include syncretism and tolerance would not, IMO, be complete. - Ingrid
